HERD MOVER – VOL.1 (LIVE)

Bonkers noise-rock with filthy, surreal punk doesn’t even come close. Herd Mover go at it like Cold Sweat, Every Time I Die, Lightning Bolt and Drunk In Hell all at once, and it would appear that they’re just a trio of vocals, guitar and drums – so much unnerving, sludgy noise from essentially two instruments. It’s grisly and unorthodox, like the songs themselves are drunk as shit but still pulling off these really impressive moves, and the vocals remain pretty nihilistic even when the tracks partially mellow out, usually in to less crazed but untrustworthy grooves that are likely to buckle and career back in to something nasty. The four songs go by in a blur of dense fuzz/octave and overdriven drums, both instruments played with zero subtlety until they reach closing plot twist ‘Everything’s Major’, a straight rocker with toxic attitude and a killer tone. Would go down a treat at Raw Power or in hell.